Sunday, October 14, 2012

And the beat goes on

by: Joelle Charbonneau

Get out the noise makers and the pop the cork on the
champagne.Yesterday, I finished writing
Skating Under The Wire.In an ideal
world, I would have completed writing the manuscript weeks ago.But life is never ideal and a combination of
working on revisions for other books, family issues and publicity stuff for the
release of Skating On the Edge slowed me down.

Now I can relax, right?Well…

Being an author is a job like any other.Just because one assignment is complete doesn’t
mean the job is over.Today I start
rereading the manuscript and revising the pages so I can turn it in over to the
world’s best agent for her opinion.While she is reading, I will work on revisions for Independent Study
(The Testing trilogy book 2).As soon as
those revisions are done, I am told revisions for End Me A Tenor should
arrive.When I am done with those, I
will open up a blank page and begin writing Graduation Day.

When I was a reader, I thought being an author was a dream
job.You write when inspiration hits,
celebrate big sales and movie deals and have lots of time off in between
books.Ha!What I have learned is you never get your
work done if you wait for inspiration.Instead of celebrating finishing a manuscript with a vacation or several
weeks off, a writer is often back at the keyboard the next day working to get
that manuscript revised.And when one
story ends, another begins.

There are days that I wish I had more time to rest in
between books.Some days I feel tired
and don’t want to analyze every word choice or pick apart the sentence
structure.But I do it because it is my
job.And WOW, am I lucky to get to do
this for a living.

DO SOME DAMAGE

Do Some Damage is a group of crime writers, each with a different voice and something to say. From grizzled vets to grizzly rooks, they pull back the curtain on the way the industry works. Whether beating deadlines or beating characters, each week they share their thoughts on reading, writing, plot, voice and all the sordid junk that goes through a writer’s brain.